SINGAPORE: With political stability, economic resilience and well-rounded progress, Malaysia is very much one of Asia’s Tigers, according to managing director and senior portfolio manager of Wells Capital Management Anthony Cragg.

“I think there has been progress in Malaysia since I first went there and today it is a very different country.

“Those days we had the Tigers of Singapore and Hong Kong but I would say Malaysia is very much one of the Tigers now,” he told Bernama.

There were a lot of good stories on Malaysia’s success, said Cragg, who has vast experience in international equity investing in developed and emerging markets.

“In general we are very positive about Malaysia and most investors have been.

been a very resilient economy and stock market (has been doing well),” he said.

In the second quarter, the Malaysian economy grew 5.2% and this year as a whole it would probably grow 4.7%, he said.

“While many parts of the world have been quite difficult and unstable, Malaysia has stood out as one of the more defensive, good markets so far.

“We have been investing in Malaysia for many years so we have never exited Malaysia, so it is only a question of whether we increase or decrease our weighting growth.

“We are always committed to Malaysia, but recently I think we had an overweight, in other words, we have been particularly positive on Malaysia, and it has done well,” he said.

Asked how attractive Malaysia was in the eyes of investors, Cragg said: “I think in front of us, Malaysia is attractive and will continue to be.”

He added that there were huge railway, port, road and other infrastructure projects.

“Maybe there is a little wariness (due to the upcoming general election) between now and April, but after that, things will look good again for the stock market,” he added.